Barn News

Recently we “got around” to a project more than a decade in the making, namely the rebuilding of the driveway at the homestead. The issue came to a head a while ago when the UPS truck struggled getting up the straight but fairly steep and narrow driveway to the barn. The existing driveway there was a “temporary” path laid down for the initial barn raising eleven years ago, so the time was at hand. Between the hurdles of weather and resources we sorta scheduled the work late last winter and we finally got a stretch of days dry enough for the ground to firm adequately for the heavy equipment. I believe the curb weight for a loaded dump trunk is in the neighborhood of 50,000 pounds.

As I understand it the process of building or rebuilding a driveway is dependent on the ability to first lay a deep foundation of cash on the ground. Actually it begins with scraping the bed flat and smooth, then building the roadway with first coarse gravel followed by fine gravel. It packs like concrete.

This is then smoothed and packed, and if done well will last for decades. That’s what I’m counting on.

The new driveway crown is a foot higher than previously in some places. Make no mistake about it, this makes coming and going to and from the barn a whole lot easier. Now I will no longer have the UPS/FedEx packages dropped off on the cabin front porch when they are meant for the barn.

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5 Comments on Coming and Going Just Got Easier

Did you have any oil applied to the gravel? Up here in central NY, a number of the smaller, more rural communities routinely do maintenance on their paved roads every few years by doing an oil and gravel upgrade rather than reapplying asphalt to the surface.

By the way, any chance of seeing your recipe for your paste wax using the shellac wax?

That’s pretty much the same method they used early this spring in revitalizing the Erie Canal Towpath. Except they used “stone dust” in the process. Initially, everything looked and felt great. However, after only several months of modest routine usage by walkers, runners and bicycles (me-5 mile slogger), there has been a definite albeit limited degradation in the quality of the surface. The surface gravel gets moved outward to the edges of the path, ofter leaving rutting and a paucity of gravel where it is most needed. But they are supposed to do routine maintenance every 2-3 years, at least when they (New York state) can afford to. I hope yours does better.

Hi Don,
The new drive looks great and you probably already know this but to help prevent a future headache be sure to have the person plowing your drive raise the plow blade a little bit or parts of your nice new gravel drive will end up in snow piles and you’ll have the driveway crew back in the Spring regrading it all. And yes, I speak from experience.
Best,
Patrick

Already on it. The old timer who plows the drive only charges me $25 to go all the way up to the barn, so to get a high quality snow blower to do the task would be about 20 years of plowing. Plus, I can just watch him doing it from the window. But he is mighty aggressive with the blade. I’ve already spoken to him and will repeat the instructions every time it snows. Otherwise we will spend every spring re-raking all the gravel out of the yard where he dumps the snow, and calling the excavation contractor to touch it up.